It has been a month since I wrote in you. How time flies. So much has happened since in this month that has passed. I am now in Shanghai. I arrived here a few days ago and it took me some time until I reached the factory of the woman who happens to be close friends with Ms. Barnard.
I have no settled in and first walked the streets of Nanking today. It was very interesting, yet very chaotic. I also learned a lot of information as I conversed with a variety of people today. Many of the people in the streets looked terrified, especially the women and young girls.
The Rape of Nanking occurred here yesterday and people are terrified. The Japanese soldiers murdered millions of women and girls for no valid reason. Every woman around China is terrified that she will be the next victim.
In the streets, I met Zhang Bai Zhi, a sixteen year old Chinese girl from Nanking who was searching around for her sister. I met her and learned about what had happened in Nanking and was extremely relieved that she had managed to escape the massacre safely. Bai Zhi seemed anxious of not being able to find her sister, who had left Nanking for Shanghai a few days earlier than herself. I continued to assure her that her sister would be fine and asked her more about what had happened. She seemed surprised that I had very little knowledge about something that was so important to me and that might put my life at risk. I explained that I lived in Vietnam most of my life and had come to Nanking only a few days before to reach Shanghai by night fall and she began to understand my confusion. From Bai Zhi, I learned that the Rape of Nanking had occurred only the day before and that about twenty to eighty thousand men, women, and children were abused by the Japanese soldiers. When I learned this, I began to fear for my safety and realized that Ms. Barnard had made a mistake sending me here. I would have been much safer in Vietnam, but I had no means of returning back to that country. I had very little money, so I had to find a way to live through this safely and adapt to the new plantation I had to live in.
So much for safety. I am absolutely terrified but I will work hard and stay alert for news of the approach of the Japanese army. In a few hours I will have to continue my journey to Shanghai. What I most in the world right now is to get out of Nanking and get to Shanghai.
December 13th, 1937
Nanking, China
Dear Diary,
It has been a month since I wrote in you. How time flies. So much has happened since in this month that has passed. I am now in Shanghai. I arrived here a few days ago and it took me some time until I reached the factory of the woman who happens to be close friends with Ms. Barnard.
I have no settled in and first walked the streets of Nanking today. It was very interesting, yet very chaotic. I also learned a lot of information as I conversed with a variety of people today. Many of the people in the streets looked terrified, especially the women and young girls.
The Rape of Nanking occurred here yesterday and people are terrified. The Japanese soldiers murdered millions of women and girls for no valid reason. Every woman around China is terrified that she will be the next victim.
In the streets, I met Zhang Bai Zhi, a sixteen year old Chinese girl from Nanking who was searching around for her sister. I met her and learned about what had happened in Nanking and was extremely relieved that she had managed to escape the massacre safely. Bai Zhi seemed anxious of not being able to find her sister, who had left Nanking for Shanghai a few days earlier than herself. I continued to assure her that her sister would be fine and asked her more about what had happened. She seemed surprised that I had very little knowledge about something that was so important to me and that might put my life at risk. I explained that I lived in Vietnam most of my life and had come to Nanking only a few days before to reach Shanghai by night fall and she began to understand my confusion. From Bai Zhi, I learned that the Rape of Nanking had occurred only the day before and that about twenty to eighty thousand men, women, and children were abused by the Japanese soldiers. When I learned this, I began to fear for my safety and realized that Ms. Barnard had made a mistake sending me here. I would have been much safer in Vietnam, but I had no means of returning back to that country. I had very little money, so I had to find a way to live through this safely and adapt to the new plantation I had to live in.
So much for safety. I am absolutely terrified but I will work hard and stay alert for news of the approach of the Japanese army. In a few hours I will have to continue my journey to Shanghai. What I most in the world right now is to get out of Nanking and get to Shanghai.